mi viaje diaria - my daily commute

      Hello there. Today is Saturday- a good day for blogging. Well, at least until my social life picks up!
      Each morning, I wake up around 7AM, shower, eat breakfast, and walk fifteen minutes to the market in downtown Cumbayá, where I wait in line my bus: the Transfloresta.

      The bus is quite petite so as to navigate the narrow, winding road from Cumbayá to the Floresta neighborhood in Quito. Though there are only seats for about 30 people on the bus, conductors typically allow passengers to stand in the aisles and spill out of the doorway (unless the local police happen to be monitoring the bus route), thus carrying 40-50 passengers per trip. Each passenger pays 25 cents. Buses are often decorated with the adornments one associates with El Caminos: dangling rosaries, velvety curtains, and portraits of various patron saints.
      As I mentioned in an earlier post, Cumbayá lies about 2000 feet below Quito, in a river valley.

View of Quito from Cumbayá 

      The bus makes a winding ascent into Quito, on bumpy cobblestone roads. Often, the window on one side of the bus is filled with the steep incline of mountain, while the window on the other side looks out over a sheer cliff, into the river valley below. The views are incredible.

      The road is narrow enough that I nearly broke out into a cold sweat the first time we passed another bus en route. Also, one must get used to the speed bumps scattered along the way. They are about four feet wide and two feet high and drivers rarely slow down enough to prevent unsuspecting gringas from flying out of their seats.
      Once I arrive in La Floresta, I walk about 20 minutes to FABC. I should mention that walking in Quito (and, to some extent, in Cumbayá as well) can be a bit of a death trap. The sidewalks here are very uneven, often with gaping holes right in the middle of them. As I am a very clumsy person to begin with, I must be hyper vigilant or risk falling flat on my face several times each day. Moreover, I've had to completely reassess the way I comport myself as a pedestrian. I've always been one of those people that walks boldly into the street, taking for granted that cars will brake with time to spare. This sort of behavior would, quite frankly, get me killed here. Cars do not stop for pedestrians under any circumstances and crosswalks are something of a local joke. One must either wait until the street clears, or hope for a traffic jam and weave through the stopped cars.
      Between buses and walking, the commute takes about an hour and I arrive at the Foundation by 9AM, just in time to greet the abuelitos and do some morning calisthenics with them.